From inside his multimillion-dollar skyscraper, a middle-age man with jet-black hair and crimson-colored eyes gazed out the window at the city sitting below him. Half his computer screen displayed the file of a player called ApexHunter101.

Ever since yesterday, Alfred couldn’t get the strange interaction he had with this player out of his head. As a broker, he was constantly on the lookout for the next best thing. Apart from the guilds who were at the very top, the power balance between the other guilds was very fragile.

It usually just takes one star player for all the pieces to flip. Any new guild created was easily crushed, and that is the way it had been for years. The 13 guilds ensured it so.

With the number of guilds so small, they had a monopoly over all the players and magical resources and didn’t tolerate anyone trying to poke their noses in.

Whenever a new talented player was discovered, the guilds would fight to recruit them by pressuring them into deals and contracts, and in some cases would resort to using threats. No matter the power they awakened, those players still didn’t have the strength or experience to resist, so they quickly gave in and joined the system.

It had been years since a player became strong enough to sit among the thirteen guilds. And unless the rank 1 player ever decided to create a guild of his own, Alfred doubted it would ever happen. But on the unlikely chance that someone did rise to that level, like most brokers, he wanted to be the one to discover that talent.

Still, this was only a fleeting wish. With the rule of the world now set, there was no one daring enough to challenge it.

Alfred heaved a heavy sigh before leaning back in his seat, and just at that moment, he caught a glimpse of his screen. Previously, he had been looking at the player rankings. When a player dies, their name is automatically removed from the player rankings.

He had been looking at the ranking of the young man he spoke to yesterday, waiting for that inevitable moment when his name would be removed from the rankings completely. When, in fact, something completely different happened.

"He jumped?"

It wasn’t unusual for a player to jump by a rank or two, but this was just... mind-boggling.

"He managed to jump over 70 ranks in less than a day, reaching rank 536?"

Even as he said the words out loud, he could hardly believe it. The kid he saw yesterday shouldn’t be capable of this.

"Could he really possess some hidden power? Maybe a powerful bloodline, or better yet, his own system tailored specifically for him? Those are rare nowadays."

Alfred couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of excitement welling up from the base of his stomach as he came up with several possibilities, but he soon calmed himself.

"I’m getting ahead of myself. Maybe he just has a slightly above-average talent or a strange magic affinity. I have to wait and observe him. If he actually make it back alive."

"Umm... Mr. Steele?"

As his mind ran through several possibilities, he was interrupted by the voice of a young woman. Looking up, he saw his secretary standing nervously at the door with a tablet in hand.

"What is it, Mia?"

At his question, Mia quickly straightened herself and answered in a formal tone.

"A young man is here to see you. He says he has an appointment with you, but I’m not seeing him on the list. He was here in the office with you yesterday, which is why I thought I would ask before sending him away."

Alfred’s eyes slightly bulged when he heard Mia’s words.

Could it be him?

Shocked was an understatement for how he was feeling at that moment. He had been so confident that the young man wouldn’t come back that he didn’t even bother to create an appointment for him.

"Umm, Mr. Steele? Is everything ok?"

"Mia, tell that young man that I’ll see him."

Mia smiled and bowed her head before leaving the office. A few moments later, a young man stood at the doorway of his office. It was a young man with average looks who stood around 6 feet tall.

The only eye-catching thing about him was his ocean-blue eyes. His jet-black hair was messy, and he was dressed in a black hoodie that was fading in color, as were his jeans. His black-and-white sneakers looked as if they were going to fall apart at any second.

One look at this guy and you could tell what part of the city he was from. You would never guess that this young man was a player.

"Liam, was it? I see you’re back."

The young man didn’t reply and instead took a seat on the chair in front of his desk.

There was that confidence again.

He had met young players who looked as if they wanted to piss themselves when standing in front of him, but this guy just strolled in and took a seat as if he was the manager of a bank.

"We had an agreement. I would come back when I gained the monster cores."

Alfred unintentionally let out a short laugh. He was finding the whole situation amusing. He had been expecting the young man to confess that he couldn’t obtain the monster cores. Even with his rank increasing, he still couldn’t have managed to face a hundred of those monsters by himself.

It was more likely that he pissed himself and ran away when he witnessed the sheer number of those rodents coming toward him.

"Look..."

Alfred was going to speak, but suddenly his vision was enveloped in a bright light as a certain rune symbol appeared on his desk. It was a symbol he was familiar with, having seen it multiple times.

"That’s the symbol for accessing your storage space," he mumbled.

CLINK-CLINK-CLINK

As the realization settled in, his desk was suddenly covered in a pile of bright blue spheres.

"A total of 116 cores monster core, all from dungeon rats. 115 of them, I killed today and one I had before," he continued before the bewildered Alfred could speak, and soon more treasures began to come from his storage space. "These are what I collected from a party of dead adventurers. Find a buyer and sell them at a good price for me."

"You did all this by yourself? But how? What kind of power do you have?"

"And one more thing," the young man said, directly ignoring Alfred’s questions. "I also have this."

The young man held up a core more than three times bigger than the ones on the desk. The mana in this core was much thicker than in the smaller ones. So much so that the air itself began radiating with power.

Seeing this monster core, Alfred became even more surprised.

"Wait, don’t tell me that’s a..."

"It’s a dungeon rat with the Rat King title," the young man interrupted. "It’s not as valuable as a boss monster’s core, but it’s still worth something."

The young man tossed the monster core in the air toward Alfred, causing the broker to scramble to catch it. He then placed a piece of paper on the desk. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

"Here are my bank details and contact number. Send me my share when you’re done selling everything."

Alfred sighed and shook his head. A deal was a deal, and he had lost, so he intended to honor it.

"Fine, I’m impressed. As per our deal, I’ll be your broker from now on. And I’ll abstain from taking any commission on your sales this time."

The young man nodded, seemingly satisfied, before getting up to leave. This action alerted Alfred, as there was something else he wanted to talk about.

"Hold up, wait!"

The young man stopped and turned around to look at the broker, who was now standing up from his chair.

"What is it?" the young man asked in a low tone that hinted at disinterest.

"Your rank... now that you’re at a higher rank and more accomplished, I think there will be plenty of guilds willing to recruit you. If you’d like, I could recommend you to any of the guilds I have connections with. I’ll send you a list so you can choose your pick."

The young man waved his hand dismissively, which caused Alfred to freeze on the spot.

"No need."

Alfred never in a million years thought that someone would turn down an offer like that from him.

He was about to insist, but the young man’s next words left him speechless once again.

"I’ll have my own guild soon enough."

Silence. A deafening silence enveloped the entire room. Alfred didn’t say a word even as he watched the young man exit the office.

Even when the young man was long gone, Alfred still stood in the same spot in his office, his eyes drifting back to the unchanging city before him before he clenched his fist tightly into a ball, his eyes gleaming brightly.

Author’s Note:

Goals:

50 Powerstones = 2 extra chap per week

100 powerstones = 3 extra chap per week

Thank You for reading :)